


If We Fell

by ParadigmFlaws



Series: The Lipstick Collection [1]
Category: Australian Actor RPF, Divergent (Movies) RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 00:32:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3361187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadigmFlaws/pseuds/ParadigmFlaws
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A charity function goes awry when social niceties aren't enough to convince a man she's not interested. In lieu of the situation escalating, however, the scene is interrupted by another event-goer who seems equally determined to get to know this young woman. She finds that she enjoys his company - but come the morning, reality proves a burdensome thought to shoulder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If We Fell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ridea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ridea/gifts).



> A gift to my dear friend, Captain Siren, who wanted to see what Jai Courtney smut might look like. I hope this lives up to your expectations!
> 
> You can follow me at tumblr under the username of paradigmflaws. I post updates, thoughts, and general writing-related randomness. I'd love to hear from you!

Voices muted into a dull roar. No one's words were distinguishable over atone else's. Piano music was a poignant accent, sometimes below the tones of humanity, sometimes above. The wall of sound had become overwhelming.  
  
There was clearly only one logical choice left.  
  
She glanced around the room for a moment. Her friend had disappeared into the fray hours ago. The charity was worthwhile (which was why she had even been coerced into appearing in the first place) but as the clock ticked past eleven, she wondered when she might be able to slip out of the venue. Not soon enough, unfortunately - which left the woman making a sharp track towards the bar.  
  
At least it was open-bar, she concluded.  
  
The choice led to her current straits, as it were. Leaning against the bar and finishing her drink, she moved to make her retreat. It was stymied by a hand being placed against the bar, the man's body leaning close to her. For a moment, she didn't respond. She didn't shift, wouldn't look at him.  
  
If she refused to acknowledge him, perhaps he would cease to exist? It was a fool's wish, but all the same. The sentiment resonated desperately in her thoughts. The smell of alcohol seeped into her senses as he pushed closer.  
  
"I see you've gone dry," the man began. He was grinning. "Let me fix you up with another."  
  
She offered him a tight smile. "No, thanks. I was getting ready to," and she might have continued if she hadn't been abruptly cut off.  
  
"It's no problem," he interjected easily. The hand on the bar shifted, his palm a hot pressure at her waist. "I got this."  
  
She twisted away. "No," she replied. It was more emphatic this time. As she ducked away from the bar, she heard the easy male laughter behind her. Bubbles of anxiety roiled in her stomach as she pressed through the room. The black suede pumps clicked against the floor of the hall.  
  
The open floor plan made it hard to find a corner to tuck herself away in. Encased in glass, the modern wing of the Art Institute made for a striking site. It was a beautiful place for a charity event, the city lights outside creating a beautiful contrast with the dark of the sky above. However, now, she was ready to curse the location.  
  
Cutting through a group of people, she breathed a sigh of relief as she settled against the glass. It was cool relief against her skin. Despite the sense of being warm, though, she felt a chill settle in her stomach. Gooseflesh rose on her arms and she trembled. Fingers picked listlessly at the sheer lace of the half-sleeves of her cocktail dress.  
  
It was a nervous tell. Realizing what she was doing, the woman tried to convince herself to stop. Curling her fingers around her forearm, a deep inhalation was silent invocation against anxiety.  
  
The tactic might have worked on another day.  
  
"There you are."  
  
She flinched. Turning her grey eyes to the man who had followed her from the bar, her lips were pressed into a severe line, only emphasized further by the deep red lipstick. "Please leave me alone."  
  
He laughed. "Don't be that way. What's a drink between new friends?"  
  
"Go away," she replied, her voice becoming more curt. His insistence was grating, a suffocating, cloying presence that lingered in her awareness and seemed set to smother her. She  held onto herself tighter, even as her posture became rigidly erect. Her spine backed into the glass of the window behind her as she drew herself up to her full height - and it was enough to look the man in the eye.  
  
She almost wished she hadn't. His affability had faded into an expression of growing irritation. "Don't be such a bitch. It's just a drink."  
  
She clenched her jaw and glanced - just for a moment - over her shoulder to the darkness of the city beyond. Swallowing thickly, her shoulders were squared and rigid as she prepared for what seemed an inevitable confrontation.  
  
"Lay off, man," a new voice interrupted. It was light, deceptively affable. She startled, jarred by the Australian accent. Looking back to the two men that now had loosely arranged themselves in her space, she couldn't help but blink.  
  
The first man scoffed. "Just having a bit of fun with a friend."  
  
This, though, she could disabuse. Swallowing thickly and choking back her unease, she found herself keeping eye contact with the newest arrival. "He is not my friend."  
  
Enough had been enough. The drink she hadn't been interested in accepting at first (and had absolutely no intention of taking from him now that it had been left in his care) was slammed down on a high table, one of dozens that had been brought in to scatter around the periphery of the room. "And you're a fucking bitch. You think you're hot enough to be able to turn down anyone you'd li-"  
  
He was cut off abruptly.  
  
All things considered, she thought, it was the most sensible choice. When confronted with a man several inches taller and a figure that was heavy with muscle, the smartest option seemed to be to be mindful of his reactions. And oh, how he had reacted.  
  
He had little regard for personal space, shifting to loom over the other man. His lips had curved into a scowl, his brows drawn into an expression of - what was it? Distaste? Temper? She couldn't quite say, but the tension in their ill-formed group was tangible enough to be cut with a knife. She winced at the thought.  
  
Impulsively, she reached out. Her hand tentatively brushed against the coat sleeve of the australian. "It's alright."  
  
He shot a dark look at the other man. "The hell it is," he muttered.  
  
"Seriously," she pressed, her voice dropping even lower. "Thank you. But it's alright."  
  
Her reply seemed to stoke the flames of his ire. She could see a tic in his jaw when he clenched it. Still, the pacifying touch on his forearm seemed to break up his temper. He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. It was an expression of disgust, as he shifted back from the other man. "Piss off," he…advised.  
  
Apparently not a fool (only an opportunist? she wondered) he was all too happy to duck back into the press of people in the crowd. She lost sight of him within a handful of seconds, even though her eyes tried to trail the figure for far longer. It was only after she felt the disconcerting sensation that she was being observed that her attention jolted back to the rest of the situation, which had yet to deconstruct itself.  
  
Grey eyes jumped back to the foreign man. He was regarding her inscrutably, although the hostility had ebbed away into something less temperamental. A smile unexpectedly lightened his features.  
  
Less temperamental, but no less forward, she realized as she swallowed down the heart that seemed to have lodged in her throat. Realizing with a jolt that she hadn't removed her fingertips from his sleeve, she went to yank her hand back.  
  
It was a realization a second too late as his free hand came up to press hers down over his arm. His thumb curled around to stroke the inside of her wrist. It was a surprisingly gentle touch for a man that seemed to have such an overwhelmingly large presence.  
  
"I'm Jai." Affability, coupled with that grin, was a devastating combination.  
  
The combination might have been lethal for anyone. She, however, was drawn more by the fact that when she subtly tested his hold on her hand, she found his hold inescapable. A flutter of malcontent rose in her breast. As before, however, instead of yielding to the concern she roused her courage and squared off against the man. "Thank you for your help."  
  
He only laughed.  
  
Instead of causing offense, of evoking unease, she found herself relaxing at the sound. In wordless reply, she smiled ruefully with a shrug. "Sorry. A little stiff there, but, well," and she broke off, uncertain of how to continue.  
  
Jai dropped her hand after a final last brush of his fingers at her wrist. "I understand," he interjected, calmness restored.  
  
For a moment they lingered at a precipice. She thought, she could turn away now, walk away without anyone to stop her, and it would have stopped there. Or..? Was there another road? She found that her attention remained centered on the man so newly introduced, inquisitiveness and a touch of something other stirring, overwhelming the simple mood of gratitude.  
  
"You've already turned down a drink." Jai's voice as lighter with humor now. "Willing to chance dancing with me, instead?"  
  
A refusal was quick in her mind, but her lips seemed to choke on the word. The excuse. Any excuse. There were a number - she was a poor dancer. There were too many people! She needed to leave..but the responses couldn't come to voice. Instead, she found herself - against all reason, against any sense - smiling slightly.  
  
Take a chance, her friend had pushed at her, before disappearing when they entered the venue.  
  
"I'd like that."  
  
Of course, dancing might have been a misnomer. It was something she commented on wryly some time later. His reply was equally dry - what did she think he was, English? She had laughed at the quip, settling more comfortably into him. The intimacy of touch migrated in such a way as to seem so slow as to be unnoticeable And yet in a single moment, the brush of his fingertips on the bare skin of her thighs where the lace of her dress ended branded awareness into her senses.  
  
Jai didn't skirt shyly away from it, either. They had stopped their mimicry of a dance earlier. She was certain that the mask she had created earlier - painstakingly layered foundation, eyeliner and shadow, lipstick and mascara - would have faded away. Midnight had rolled past, but she no longer stared wistfully out at the city lights beyond the windows. His palm curved loosely around her thigh.  
  
Shameless. It stayed there as if it had the right to be there. Perhaps it did. He glanced down at her, consideration chasing away the light-hearted humor that had kept her near to him through the late hours of the night.  
  
Their banter faded under the intensity of his regard. Instead of withering under it, her own frank regard met his.  
  
"Come back to my room?"  
  
"Yes," she had replied, the word heavy with the weight of implication, of understanding, of expectation.  
  
Departing was an effortless thing. His fingers abandoned their torturous attention to the sensitive skin of her outer thigh. Instead, Jai's hand curved lightly around her waist, the thickness of his forearm a shelter and a guide in one. They broke out to the sidewalk, the street noises dimming the sounds of voices that they had left, the music in the rooms they had stepped out from.  
  
She ducked into the cab first. A sharp bolt of self consciousness made her undertake the endeavor with a modicum of grace. The shorter dress and taller heels made for a challenge but it was one she was up to. As he folded his larger body into the seat and gave the hotel's name to the driver, his hand reached out to reassert its position on her body.  
  
This time, Jai's fingers trailed lightly down from the nape of her neck. The loose fall of her hair covered his touch. All the same, he unerringly found the light V in the back of her dress, tracing the edge of the fabric. Fingers played lightly with the top of the zipper.  
  
Promise was etched into every touch. Despite the intimacy though, they didn't so much as kiss. Not in the cab, anyway.  
  
It changed as they paced through the hotel lobby. Pushing a button to his floor with more force than she might have considered strictly necessary, Jai settled to lean back against the wall of the elevator. His jacket was still buttoned up, although the white shirt underneath was unbuttoned at the throat. Stubble shadowed his cheeks and throat in an intentional affect.  
  
He caught her studying look and his restive frustration broke into a chuckle. Jai seemed prepared to make a comment on it.  
  
Fortunately (for the both of them) he didn't get so far. Smoothing her hand up the breast of his coat, she rocked up onto her toes. It wasn't much further to go, given the elevation of her spiked heels. Attaining her desired elevation, her other hand came to rest on his shoulder.  
  
Her lips pressed against his, a light pressure that was chaste until Jai responded. Curling one arm behind her, pressing his forearm into the small of her back to pull her closer and letting his other hand drift to cup the back of a thigh, he kissed her harder, lips parting against hers. It lasted for drawn out seconds before he drew up, nipping her lip in passing, taking the time to kiss her jaw.  
  
The sharp ding of the elevator interrupted them. "Christ," Jai breathed out on a groan. He pulled her out, his longer strides leaving her nearly racing down the hallway beside him.  
  
He dealt with the key slot efficiently, shoving the door open and kicking it shut behind them. A light was switched on and as she stepped further into the room, she glanced over her shoulder and laughed.  
  
"Oh my god," she managed to gasp out. "Jai." She reached out, her thumb brushing over his lips. It only served to smear the sharp slash of red that her lipstick had left on his lips. "Let me just," but she was cut off as his hands reached out to curl around her waist.  
  
Pulling her closer, he leaned down to press a domineering kiss against her lips. Holding her against him, he drew back. "You are not going to make us wait longer."  
  
Laughing, she wrapped her arms up around behind the back of his neck. Using her newfound stability against his chest to kiss along the strong column of his neck, she only paused to murmur, "I wouldn't dream of it," against his skin.  
  
He shivered at the warm brush of air against his neck.  
  
Jai reached up under her hair. This time, when his fingers found the zipper to her dress the tab was pulled down all the way. It wasn't hasty, the teeth parting slowly, with deliberate intention. Her skin was bared to the cool air of the hotel and when the zipper had been undone the whole way down, it was only the tight lace of her half-sleeves that kept it on. Modest in front, she was completely bare in back.  
  
His hand savagely exploited the exposure, running up her spine to curl around the back of her neck and holding her still for another of his kisses that swept in and stole sense, stole reason, identity, robbed thought, from her being. It didn't steal her purpose, though. As his hands played gently with the newfound skin, occasionally curling further around her side, reaching around her waist and ribcage, her own fingers had found the buttons to his jacket. Beyond that, the smaller, more demanding buttons of his shirt were being dealt with.  
  
Reaching down to unbuckle his belt, she left it hanging from his belt loops as her fingers fisted in the fabric of his shirt. Yanking it from the waist of his pants, she shoved it and the jacket down his arms. Jai was forced to pause his investigation of the sensitive skin only so newly exposed to shrug them off the rest of the way. Arms newly freed, he nudged her around and drew her back with his hands at her waist.  
  
Sitting at the edge of the bed he drew her back between his spread legs. Leaning forward, she shivered as she felt his stubble brush against the small of her back. "Oh, God," she breathed softly.  
  
"Not even close."  
  
There wasn't even a bra band hindering his investigation of her back, his lips tracing kisses up her spine. Her breathing was shallower, hitching as he occasionally rasped red streaks into the pale, sensitive skin with his facial hair. She shivered, her hands clamping down on his, where they settled around her waist. Catching her breath, she leaned back into him, shutting her eyes.  
  
It wasn't as if he could see her face, she thought, even as her head tilted back in tandem with a breathy sigh.  
  
The strength of Jai's hands and arms was considerable. It was enough to pull her down into him, her only purchase leaning against his chest. Her own bare back met with his exposed skin and the chill of the hotel air conditioning was chased away in a flash. Her head leaned back against his shoulder and she moved her hands to rest on the top of his thighs.  
  
He leaned forward to suck a mark into the crook of her neck, and her fingers bit into the heavy muscle over his legs. "Please," she bit out, desperation etched into the tone as she shifted her hips insistently against him. She could feel the thick ridge of his cock pressing against her, although too many layers of clothing separated them.  
  
Jai nipped at the mark he had made even as he chuckled. It wasn't light humor, though. Patience was straining even his goodnatured approach. "You want something?"  
  
"Yes," she bit out, her voice cutting into something closer to a snarl. His humor had the opposite effect on her. "I want you to tell me you have a condom in this room and that you're not just teasing me to death."  
  
Purpose was a static shock to both of them. She stumbled as she found herself set away from the bed, released from the inexorable progression of his touches. Jai had launched himself up from the edge of the bed, his shoes kicked aside, and the rest of his clothes following. Unabashedly naked before her, he flung a foil packet to the bedside table.  
  
She hadn't progressed beyond turning to stare at him. The elegant lines that his evening wear had been imposing - but somehow, without clothes, he only managed to become even moreso. Muscle roped thickly along every part of his body.  
  
Her breath caught in her throat as he took the single step necessary to bring himself next to her. Jai's fingers reached down, threading into the neckline of the dress. Her sleeves turned inside out as they peeled down her arms. He moved reverently, almost as if he were afraid of tearing the lace of the dress - or as if he were unwrapping a package that had been marked as fragile.  
  
Her underwear, however, he had no such regard for. Kicking her stiletto heels off (how had they lasted this long, she wondered?) as he yanked the scrap of fabric down her legs she found herself hoisted against him, lifted up so he didn't even have to lean down to press his lips to hers again.  
  
As Jai drew back, her breath caught on a whimper. "Please," she begged, fingernails scoring lines down his back.  
  
It was all that he could take. They landed on the bed. She hit the covers on her stomach, although she wasn't there for more than a second before a hand at her ankle dragged her back closer to the edge. She heard the tear of foil and glanced over her shoulder to see Jai roll the condom over his erection. Her pulse pounded in her ears.  
  
His free hand traced up her leg to curl underneath her, cupping her abdomen to bring her to her knees. Parting her legs, his fingers stroked between her legs to part her with a deceptively gentle touch. Feeling her own slickness, he groaned. She was already wet for him, growing wetter as his fingertip circled lightly around her clit.  
  
When his hand moved to her hip, she found herself held immobile with his grasp on either hip. And still he did nothing, and they were motionless other than her body, shivering with expectation.  
  
Finally, she broke the silence. "Fuck me, please."  
  
"Yes," Jai rumbled, coming down around her. His hands pressed into the mattress beside her own and he pushed into her. His breath caught as she clenched around him. Clenching his jaw, he snapped his against her again and he heard her low groan of pleasure.  
  
For a moment, he pressed down. His chest was flush against her back, arms caging hers as his pace remained steady. Firm, deep, and slow, her hips bucked back underneath him in desperate encouragement. Letting his head drop, Jai pressed his lips against the unmarked skin on her upper back, the nape of her neck, around the shoulder that he hadn't sucked a bruise into.  
  
Setting his teeth to the skin there, he nipped sharply as he thrust harder.  
  
Her elbows slid out from underneath her as she rocked back against him. Her fingers curled into the bedspread, and he shifted to brush his hands along her own. Trailing his fingers up her arm, loosely spanning the nape of her neck, before dragging down her back before they settled at her hips, she shivered at the combined stimulation of his unshakable rhythm and the play of his fingers.  
  
It was only as his hands closed on her hips, enough to keep her still, that his pace increased. She felt his cock nudge against something, something that caused a twisting inside of her, as she shuddered against him. She clamped down more tightly around him, sobbing for breath as her back arched.  
  
He felt the spasmodic fluttering of her muscles around him, could feel that she was close. Hearing her cry out, the noise catching in her throat as she gasped when he drove into her again, Jai's hand reached down between her thighs, stroking lightly over her lit. It was all that it took for her to come, spasming more strongly, and it was enough to push him over the edge.  
  
Curled over her back, his breath hitched as he came.  
  
For a moment, a pang of guilt shot through him. His weight had pressed her down into the bed as they both fought to catch their breath. Neither seemed particularly inclined to move, and she could feel his heart pounding against her back. Still, Jai shifted first.  
  
Rolling off of her, withdrawing and disposing of the condom, he curled an arm around her as he settled on his back. She was drawn close against his side, her arm resting lightly over his waist as her cheek pillowed on his chest. Still fighting to return his heart to normal, he turned his head to brush a kiss against her forehead.  
  
Time ticked past, and it seemed that the rest of the early morning would while away into true dawn before either of them stirred. Jai had fallen asleep, his arm secure around her. In the dimness of the room, with only the light over the door flicked on, her grey eyes watched the clock pensively.  
  
She pursed her lips. Despite all that had happened that night, the deep stain of red remained. Carefully, she set herself to the task of extricating herself from the bed. It was easier said than done: it required moving his arm, gently as to avoid waking him. Finally rolling off the other edge of the bed, she stood still for a time that she could only measure in heartbeats. Only the sheet over his waist protected him from indecency.  
  
In sleep, Jai's face had softened into something beyond the well dressed, well-spoken man who had intervened on her behalf. It also wasn't quite the man who had laughed boyishly with her, teasing her in turn. It was almost enough to give her pause.  
  
But not quite.  
  
She dressed in a quiet rush. Only the zipper made a sound in the silence of the hotel room, and it wasn't one that was enough to disturb the sleeping man. Finally, she bent down to pick up her shoes in one hand. Padding barefoot to the door, she opened it slowly.  
  
It didn't creak. Still, she paused in the doorframe. The bright light of the hallway cast her in sharp relief and she hesitated on the threshold. A hand rested on the door, knuckles white from how tightly she was holding it. Reality, though, was a cold, creeping thing down her spine. It chased away the lingering ache between her thighs that pulled in the way muscles did after a good run. It chased away the euphoria that fluttered in her breast.  
  
The morning light broke through the curtains in the recesses of the room. With it, beckoned a return to reality.  
  
She stepped through the door and shut it quietly behind her.  
  
And she didn't look back.  
  



End file.
